

Hannah Barlow and Kane Senes have teamed up to bring us a deft blend of Australiana, comedy and horror. It reminded me of Little Monsters in its loving and gory depiction of modern foibles.
Cecilia (a luminous Aisha Dee) has 2K followers on social media for her ‘Sincerely Cecilia’ wellness stream. She seems to have her (public) life under control until she bumps in to childhood friend Emma (Hannah Barlow) on an emergency trip to the chemist for tampons (that the brand she chooses is called Bloody Brilliant says everything you need to know about the tone of this film).
Cecilia and Emma were best friends – and I mean BFFs 4EVA! – when they were kids and Emma’s hen’s weekend to celebrate her impending wedding to Fran (Lucy Barrett) seems like a perfect opportunity for them to reconnect. But (and it’s a big but) the host of the weekend is Cecilia’s nemesis and childhood bully, the angular and glossy Alex (Emily De Margheriti), who, in Cecilia’s memory, called her Sissy and stole Emma’s friendship from her.
The premise and the characters, including vacuous Tracey (Yerin Ha) and spiteful Jamie (Daniel Monks), are all relatable. Even though they are on the mean side of cool, the dynamic feels very millennial and how you are in your 20s when status and cynicism seem like goals. This is a horror though so it’s not surprising when things start to go seriously awry. The gore is just what you need to offset the tongue-in-cheek sugary humour and it is meant to make you laugh as well as cringe.
Barlow and Senes do a great job at subverting some horror tropes, particularly around the narrative arc for protagonist and antagonist. What works well is the centring of the story around Cecilia’s experience. We see the world through her eyes, where intentions are enough and she is somehow always the victim. It helps that Dee is so perfect as a gorgeous but perhaps psychotic ‘influencer’, reminding us of her Saddle Club days whilst bringing a very modern young adult sensibility. We like her even as we understand what a nightmare of a friend she would be.
Have you seen this film? Let me know your thoughts in the comments below.